Circuit-controller.



PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905.

R. A. BALDWIN.

GIRGUIT CONTROLLER.

APPLIUATION FILED SEPT. 29. 1904.

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Patented February 32e, 1905.

*rrrrise attivit tristi RCLLIN A. BALDVIN, Oli NEW HAVEN, CCNNECNCUI, ASSICNCR TO THE BALDVLN @c RC'WLANI) SWl'lCH et SIGNAL COltlPANY, A (,CRl;)CltAllCN OF CONNECTICUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,715, dated February 2e, 1905.

Application iiled September 29,1904. cGrial No. 226.1189.

Be it known that l, RoLLIN A. BALDWIN'. a citizen of the United States, residimg,l at New llaven, in the county of N ew l-l'aveii and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful .improvements in Circuit-Controllers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to circuit-controllers 1o for overhead-trolley electric-railway systems, and involves theapi'ilication of a shoe or frame to the trolley-wire for the purpose of deiiecting the current through a local circuit or cir cuits whenever a trolley-wheel passes over the device.

',lhe object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which shall be simple and cheap to construct,-easily and quickly applied to the wire without severing the same, and which will operate without the production of an excessive spark.

lhe invention consists of the constructions and combinations thereof hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

l'n the accompanying drawings, 'Figure 1 represents a plan of my improved contact device. Fig. 2 is a reversed plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation. Fig. t is a transverse section, and Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate two ditl'erent arrangements of circuits controllable by my improved device.

The trolley-wire is indicated at (t, which, as usual, is supplied with current by a feeder connected at intervals therewith by branch conductors c. '.lhe device constituting my invention consists of a two-part insulatingbase E, the members of which are indicated by r and e. rlhis base is m'eferably of wood, but may be of any other suitable insulating material. members are joined together at the middle on a longitudinal vertical plane and are secured together by means of transverse bolts j?, any suitable number of which may be used. The extremities of this base are inclined in opposite directions on the under side. rl`he abutting surfaces of the members f and e' are formed with opposed grooves, semicircular in It is. elongated in shape, and its cross-section and together forming a passage through the insulating-base Vfor the trolleywire ff. This passage leads outward at each end of the structure through the inclined Vface thereof, so that through the body portion the passage is sunken into the base and the wire when located therein is not exposed at its under surface. Attached to the under sur face of the base and arranged in a longitud inal position thereoil, one upon each side of the passage for thewire, are two metallic plates vf/ and y', havingI depending side tlanges, together `forming a gutter or passage for the trolley-wheel. These plates are deflected at their extremities, as shown at y, to e\tendl along the up\va1'( llyinclined `faces of the base and obliquely across the line of the wire and at their extreme ends liare apart slightly to 'freely admit the trolley-whcel to the space between the ilanges when it encounters the device in its passage along the wire. lhcse plates are secured to the base by means of screws y2 or in any other suitable manner and Vform a two-part track adapted to receive the two rims or ilal'iges of the trolley-wheel.

' .lV prefer to mount these two plates in such a manner that there will be aslightlongitmiinal space between their aln'itting edges, as shown in thed rawings, and they are to be entirelydisconnected and separate from the trolley-wire. Hence the passage or groove for the wire is formed sui'liciently deep in the base to prevent contact between the wire and the plates. The space betuuen the plates is. however, ordinarily less than the (.liametcr of the wire,so that they slightly overlap the wire and rcrpiire to be cut away in the regions where the wire emerges through their inclined faces, as shown in Fig. 2 at /a This contact device may be connected in the circuit in either of two uutys. The two plates g/ and y/ may be electrically connected together' by bridging the bindingposts f' i", respectively, connected with said plates by a co1meeting-wire j, as shown in Fig. l, and then connectingl one of said posts with the source of current-supply, or the two posts i' and i maybe used to connect two wires, which extend `from them, reeniectively, to the source of supply.

The device is operated in the following manner: l/Vhen it is desired to actuate a signal by means ofthe trolley-current and automatically by the moving car or train, one of the devices herein described is placed upon the trolleywire at the point where the signal is to be operated. The signal will be connected in the branch circuit leading from the feeder to the circuit-controlling devices. Such a signal is indicated at .5- in the branch circuit 0. N ow it will be seen that when the trolley-wheel (indicated by t) encounters one of the circuit-controlling devices its flanges strike,respectively, upon the inclined ends g3 of the plates g and g and the wheel `is depressed until it leaves the Wire entirely and thereafter runs along the horizontal portions of the two plates. During 'the passage of the wheel over the plates the current to propel the car is drawn from the feeder 7) by way of the branch circuit o, containing the signal s, through the two plates f/ andf/ and through thel trolley-wheel and car, thus actuating the signal. In place of a signal an electromagnet for throwing a switch in the rails upon which the car travels might be used, or, in fact, any other device to be operated by the trolley-current may 'be inserted in the branch circuit in the manner described, the device .s thus representing any such apparatus. 1f it is required that two different signals or devices bc simultaneously actuated by the same circuit-controller, the wiring arrangement shown in Fig. 6 will be utilized, wherein .s represents one signal ordevice connected in abranch o from thc feeder 'leading to one of the binding-posts if and the lamp or other device .s/ connected in an independent branch r/ leading from the same feeder to the other post if. The two devices to be actuated may be signals at opposite ends of a block, or one switch and one signal, or any other arrangement of devices appropriate to the invention. lVhen the trolleywheel passes over the two plates g and g. the current to propel the car will be drawn through both of the branches 0 and o and actuate both of the devices .s and s. It will then unite at the trolley-wheel and flow through the car.

In the various forms of devices heretofore provided for similar purposes great difficulty has been experienced. by reason of the excessive sparking when the trolley-wheel strikes and leaves the device. In the present instance it will be seen that upon approaching the circuit-controller the wheel does not leave the wire until its flanges are 1n good contact with the plates g and g, for it is by reason of that Contact and the inclined arrangement of the plates that the wheel is caused to leave the wire. Likewise in passing from the circuitcontroller the wheel does not leave the plates g and g until it is caused to do so by reason of its renewed contact with the trolley-wire. Hence the sparking' that occurs at the making and breaking of the branch circuit or circuits is reduced to a minimum. It will also be seen that this device may be very readily applied to the wire, since itis in two parts, which merely require to be placed upon opposite sides of the wire and clamped together by the bolts described. It can also be adjusted to different positions along the wire by slacking the nuts on the bolts and sliding' the device along the wire without entirely removing it. The side flanges on the plates g and f/ prevent displacement of the wheel in its passage over the circuit-controller.

HavingI described my invention, I claiml. A circuit-controller for trolley-wires, consisting of an insulating-base in two parts adapted to be clamped together, the abutting surface?J of said parts being provided with opposing' longitudinal grooves forming a pas' sage for the trolley-wire andan external longitudinally-arranged contact-plate having portions at each end arranged oblique to said passage and extending across theline thereof, for the purpose set forth.

2. A circuit-controller for trolley-wires, comprising an insulating-base containing a passage for the trolley-wire and having an external longitudinal contact-surface arranged below the plane of the wire and having upwardly-inclined ends extending beyond the line of the wire, said inclined ends being cut away to permit the wire to pass through them without touching, substantially as described.

3. A circuit-controller for trolley-wires, comprising an insulating-base adapted to be applied to the wire and carrying two contactplates, branch circuits leading from a source of electrical supply to the respective contactplates and devices to be electrically actuated located in said branch circuits, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I subscribe my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

ROLLIN A. BALDVIN.

lVitnesses:

IVILLIAM A. BoRsT, FREDERICK M. lVAnD.

IOO 

